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October 04, 2024
Top 5 Supreme Court Cases To Watch This Fall
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear several cases in its October 2024 Term that could further refine the new administrative law landscape, establish constitutional rights to gender-affirming care for transgender minors and affect how the federal government regulates water, air and weapons. Here, Law360 looks at five of the most important cases on the Supreme Court's docket so far.
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October 04, 2024
Arnold & Itkin's Zeta DQ Bid 'Disappointing,' Ex-Clerk Testifies
A Harris County judge began mulling Arnold & Itkin LLP's bid to disqualify Transocean's counsel from Hurricane Zeta litigation after a marathon hearing Friday that included testimony from a former Arnold & Itkin law clerk-turned-defense-lawyer who said she watched the contentious proceeding with "bitter amusement" and "disappointment."
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October 04, 2024
EPA Fights To Save Civil Rights Regs Outside Louisiana
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday asked a Louisiana federal judge to reject the state's effort to impose a nationwide ban on civil rights regulations focused on disparate impacts.
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October 04, 2024
Iowa Farmer Wants Court To Nix Federal 'Swampbuster' Law
A farmer pushed an Iowa federal court to overturn the "Swampbuster" part of a federal conservation program that aims to protect wetlands for public use, arguing that the law is unconstitutional.
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October 04, 2024
High Court Nuclear Case Could Be Admin Law Blockbuster
By agreeing to consider the federal government's authority to license temporary nuclear waste storage facilities, the U.S. Supreme Court can ease the uncertainty facing a resurgent U.S. nuclear industry as well as clarify limits it's recently placed on federal agency power, experts say.
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October 04, 2024
Energy Cos. Say Toshiba Unit Can't Use Parent's Jury Waiver
Michigan's largest energy companies said a jury should hear their claims that a Toshiba subsidiary botched a $500 million job to renovate their jointly owned power plant, saying a jury trial waiver in an agreement with the parent company doesn't apply to the unit that did the work.
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October 04, 2024
EPA Finalizes Stronger Pesticide Rules For Farmworker Safety
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday finalized a rule strengthening protections for agricultural workers who could be exposed to pesticides, standards that had been weakened by the Trump administration.
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October 04, 2024
Enviro Group Drops EPA Fight Over Colo. Refinery Permit
The Center for Biological Diversity agreed to end its Tenth Circuit challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to object to a series of state permit changes for a Denver-area oil refinery, according to a Friday court filing.
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October 04, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Pause EPA's Iron Plant Rule
A D.C. Circuit panel rejected bids by U.S. Steel Corp. and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. to stay a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule setting emissions standards for their taconite iron ore processing facilities.
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October 04, 2024
NC Atty Dies In Hurricane Helene, Rattling Legal Community
A North Carolina family law attorney was included in the rising death toll caused by Hurricane Helene, whose effects were felt throughout the region's legal community.
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October 04, 2024
Europe Votes To Raise Tariffs On Electric Vehicles From China
European Union member states voted Friday to impose higher tariffs on imports of battery electric vehicles from China for the next five years, adding to the already staggering tariffs imposed by the United States and Canada.
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October 04, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen GMB Union sued by the makers of Tetley Tea after a staff walkout in September, boxer Mike Tyson hit with legal action from a marketing company and the Met Police face a misuse of private data claim from a woman who had a relationship with an undercover police officer. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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October 04, 2024
Justices Won't Block EPA Methane Control Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected pleas by Republican-led states and fossil fuel industry groups to block implementation of an Environmental Protection Agency rule strengthening methane emissions control requirements for oil and gas infrastructure.
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October 04, 2024
Justices Won't Freeze EPA's Mercury Rule During Challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement its recent rule strengthening mercury air emission standards while red states' and fossil fuel groups' challenges proceed at the D.C. Circuit.
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October 04, 2024
High Court Will Review 5th Circ. Bar On Nuclear Waste Site
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said it will review the Fifth Circuit's decision to bar the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from issuing a license to a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in Texas.
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October 03, 2024
Ill. Top Court Asked To Restore $7B Power Line Permit
Illinois utility regulators on Thursday urged the state's top court to reverse a lower court's decision striking a key permitting decision for part of the $7 billion Grain Belt Express high-voltage transmission line, saying the faulty ruling threatens the legislature's clean energy goals.
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October 03, 2024
Fifth Third Bank Solar Panel Loan MDL Centralized In Minn.
A collection of proposed class actions accusing Fifth Third Bank NA of hiding loan costs from customers will be consolidated in Minnesota, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled Thursday, noting that the judge assigned hasn't presided over an MDL yet.
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October 03, 2024
Drivers Rip GM's Bid For Full 6th Circ. Redo In Emissions Row
A group of drivers on Thursday balked at General Motors' bid to get the full Sixth Circuit to review a divided panel's recent decision partly reviving consolidated litigation alleging the automaker deceptively marketed Chevrolet Silverado and Sierra vehicles as being more environmentally friendly than they actually were.
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October 03, 2024
NC Woman Sues Duke Energy Over Coal Ash Management
A Catawba County woman has hit Duke Energy with a lawsuit in a North Carolina state court asserting that contamination stemming from its management of coal ash waste caused her to develop kidney cancer.
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October 03, 2024
Colo. Billionaire's Brief Sparks Call For Gorsuch Recusal
A Colorado billionaire once hired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch as a budding young lawyer, later campaigned for the future justice's first judicial appointment and subsequently urged the court to loosen requirements for federal environmental reviews — all of which has sparked a call for the justice to bow out of one of the upcoming term's key cases.
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October 03, 2024
Energy Dept. Hands Out $1B Loan For EV Charging Expansion
The U.S. Department of Energy announced on Thursday that it has made a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $1.05 billion aimed at expanding public electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country.
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October 03, 2024
12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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October 03, 2024
Colo. Panel Finds No Proof Of Bias In Reservoir Project Vote
A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Thursday upheld the dismissal of environmental groups' lawsuit challenging a permit approval for a Northern Colorado pipeline and reservoir project, rejecting claims that two county officials were too biased and should have recused themselves from the vote.
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October 03, 2024
Georgia Resident Adds To Lawsuits Targeting Bio-Lab Fire
A resident of Conyers, Georgia, is adding to the litigation against Bio-Lab Inc. and its corporate parent, KIK Custom Products Inc., with a proposed class action filed after a fire at the company's facility in the city on Sunday led to evacuation and shelter-in-place orders.
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October 03, 2024
Flint Water Judge Wishes Public Knew Case Complexity
A Michigan federal judge on Thursday gave the final approval to a $25 million settlement to end claims from a class of Flint adults and businesses accusing a firm of failing to properly alert officials about the dangers of the city's water, noting that the case took years to resolve because it involved complicated legal issues.
Expert Analysis
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Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping
As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Enviro Policy Trends That Will Continue Beyond The Election
Come October in a presidential election year, the policy world feels like a winner-take-all scenario, with the outcome of the vote determining how or even whether we are regulated — but there are several key ongoing trends that will continue to drive environmental regulation regardless of the election results, say J. Michael Showalter and Samuel Rasche at ArentFox Schiff.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Using Primacy And Recency Effects In Opening Statements
By understanding and strategically employing the primacy and recency effects in opening statements, attorneys can significantly enhance their persuasive impact, ensuring that their narrative is both compelling and memorable from the outset, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.
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Opinion
Supreme Court Must Halt For-Profit Climate Tort Proliferation
If the U.S. Supreme Court does not seize the opportunity presented by Honolulu v. Sunoco to reassert federal authority over interstate pollution regulation, the resulting frenzy of profit-driven environmental mass torts against energy companies will stunt American competitiveness and muddle climate policy, says Gale Norton at Liberty Energy.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers
A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.
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6 Tips For Trying Cases Away From Home
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
A truly national litigation practice, by definition, often requires trying cases in jurisdictions across the country, which presents unique challenges that require methodical preparation and coordination both within the trial team and externally, say Edward Bennett and Suzanne Salgado at Williams & Connolly.
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A Blueprint For Structuring An Effective Plaintiff Case Story
The number and size of nuclear verdicts continue to rise, in part because plaintiffs attorneys have become more adept at crafting compelling trial stories — and an analysis of these success stories reveals a 10-part framework for structuring an effective case narrative, says Jonathan Ross at Decision Analysis.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: The MDL Map
An intriguing yet unpredictable facet of multidistrict litigation practice is venue selection for new MDL proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation considers many factors when it assigns an MDL venue, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.
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Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.